Plots with ROOTs Plots with ROOTs

Data visualization with gnuplot | Learn to build figures you can understand, change and share.

A practical guide to gnuplot

Plain text.
Clear figures.
Lasting skills.

Turn Titanic passenger and crew data into plots you can explain and rebuild. Start with a table, write a few commands, and learn what each visual choice does.

Start in the terminal → Open the reference
One dataset. Different questions.
Titanic survival rates: 62.0 percent in first class, 41.5 in second, 25.5 in third, and 23.7 among crew.

data → script → figure
Readable at every step.

Choose your way in.

Same data. Same plotting ideas. Your preferred tools.

01 · Inspect & reproduce

The dataset

Trace the provenance, inspect the embedded records, and reproduce every shared CSV table from one Org source.

Explore the dataset → 02 · Explore & document

In an Org notebook

Keep prose, tables, code and figures together. Work through the examples with Emacs and Org Babel.

Open the live notebook → 03 · Write & run

In the terminal

Retrieve ready-made CSVs from Zenodo, inspect them, write a .gp file in an editor, and run it with gnuplot. Works with Bash and Git Bash.

Open the terminal lesson → 04 · Look up & understand

The student reference

Find a command, read what it means, and see it in a Titanic plot. Numbered listings make examples easy to locate.

Explore the reference → 05 · Change & explain

Student challenges

Try 26 short tasks, from the independent introduction to the Titanic chapters. Adapt a plot, check the data and explain your visual choices, in either environment.

Open the exercise sheet →

Go beyond the first bar chart.

Browse all 18 plots →
Stacked survivors and deaths in the three passenger classes and crew

Counts & composition

Distinguish group size from the share who survived.

 Survival rates by class and sex shown as a heatmap

Patterns in two dimensions

Read class and sex together, using both colour and exact labels.

 A dumbbell chart comparing women's and men's survival rates

Differences that matter

Compare rates through position rather than bar height.

Tools with ROOTs.

Open the slides →
Robust

Inspect the steps and understand what went wrong.

Open

Read, share and adapt the scripts and data.

Ongoing

Keep the workflow understandable for the next person.

Time-tested

Build on established, plain-text tools.

Further reading